Lockstep march to ban plastic bags

By Diana Diamond

Daily News columnist

Posted:
02/06/2013 08:50:55 PM PST

Updated:
02/07/2013 12:13:56 AM PST

Like children being led by the Pied Piper into a politically correct forest, Peninsula cities are following San Mateo County's siren song by banning plastic take-out bags and charging us for any paper bags we may need -- 10 cents now, 25 cents later.

Who could be against that noble effort?

I am, because people are leaping on a bandwagon with little thought and much misinformation.

In October, San Mateo County encouraged all cities under its jurisdiction to adopt the ban it passed. Several cities followed the leader -- Menlo Park, Woodside, Portola Valley, San Mateo, Belmont, South San Francisco and Foster City. A couple of Santa Clara County cities -- Palo Alto and Mountain View -- also ban plastic bags.

The city councils' discussions were devoid of probing questions or debate about the value of preserving plastic or biodegradable bags. The bans were imposed with unison nods of agreement.

Why so little serious discussion?

Follow the money. If a city council member wants to change any provision of the environmental impact report done for the county's plastic bags ordinance, his or her city would have to do its own environmental report. In Menlo Park, Council Member Catherine Carlton wanted to allow biodegradable plastic bags but concluded it wasn't worth $50,000 to do a separate EIR just because the county's didn't include such bags.

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The other money rub is that the state asked municipalities to reduce their storm drain waste by 40 percent. But a carrot was offered -- if cities ban take-out plastic bags they get credit for that and officials can declare the storm waste has been reduced. No proof needed.

So this ban is not really about saving Earth. It's about following that Pied Piper, avoiding money for an EIR, and satisfying the state's request to reduce storm drain waste. Plus, it lets our council members feel politically correct.

Back in the 1990s, environmentalists told us how bad it was to use brown paper bags because we were cutting down trees and denuding rain forests. Plastic was the way to go.

But then the message changed. Environmentalists claimed plastic bags used too many petrochemicals to produce. We had to be environmentally better, they said.

If plastics are bad, why don't we also ban plastic produce and meat bags, those big black trash and yard trimming bags, the plastic used to wrap clothes from the cleaners, food storage bags? Why is it better for us to purchase trash can plastic bags from the store than use the free ones we were getting?

The anti-plastic-bag group was silent on those issues. Its focus was only to ban single-use plastic bags.

The petrochemical problem then morphed into an argument a couple of years ago that plastic bags were hurting fish and San Francisquito Creek, as well as contributing to the Pacific Ocean gyre. Save the Bay sent letters to the editor stating that 95 percent of the plastic bags end up in the San Francisco Bay. It's impossible to document that.

In Palo Alto, have council members checked the creek to see whether the ban is effective? Just asking.

Now we have a new goal. Ban both plastic and paper, and use only recyclable bags for groceries and purchases from pharmacies, restaurants, department stores and big box stores. Most of the recyclables are produced outside the United States. That's not good for our economy, though public outcry has not yet erupted.

But the plastic bag is not the ogre we claim it is. According to a November Boston Globe article, the plastic bag is a "triumph" of cost-effective engineering. It weighs practically nothing, has good handles and water-resistant walls, and can carry up to 2,000 times its weight. Moreover, it costs practically nothing to produce; brown bags are four times more expensive.

And about this "single-use" nomenclature, the presumption is we take our groceries home and throw all plastic bags away (by sneaking up to the San Francisco Bay at night to toss them?).

I've asked many people what they do with their bags. Responses varied from using them as dog poop containers to trash can liners to holding decorations, off-season clothing, garage items, lunch, and giving garden lemons to neighbors. Certainly not single use.

Political zealotry is at work. That's why I am so disappointed with local city councils who on most other issues explore and analyze, then think their way through to the right decision.